TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Majority of Indonesians reject extending presidential terms: SMRC
It was the latest public opinion survey to rebut recent claims floated by members of the political elite that a majority of people support the idea of delaying the 2024 elections.
Change Size
A
majority of Indonesians reject the idea of extending the presidential term, either by constitutional amendment to allow for a third term or by delaying the 2024 elections for a few years, a survey conducted by Saiful Mujani Research and Consulting (SMRC) has found.
It was the latest public opinion survey to rebut recent claims floated by members of the political elite that a majority of people support the idea of delaying the 2024 elections, arguing that the elections would disrupt Indonesia’s economic recovery and that the pandemic might not be over in the next two years.
Read also: Party leaders float proposal to extend Jokowi's term, citing pandemic, Ukraine crisis
For the survey, the pollster interviewed 1,027 people aged 17 or older, who were randomly selected from across the country, on March 10-20. The survey has a 3.12 percent margin of error.
SMRC asked the respondents in the survey whether they agreed with delaying the 2024 elections because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic; economic problems; or because the current administration needs to safeguard the capital relocation project to Nusantara, East Kalimantan.
Some 78.9 percent disagreed with postponing the elections because of the pandemic, 79.8 percent disagreed with the economic conditions argument and 78.5 percent disagreed with postponing because of the new capital city, according to the survey, which was published on Friday.
Meanwhile, 73 percent of the respondents said that presidential term should be limited to two terms, in line with the Constitution.
“The idea of extending the presidential term [limit] to more than two terms is not a commonly held view among the public,” SMRC research division head Deni Irvani said.
Read also: Luhut says most people want longer term for Jokowi. But experts, surveys beg to differ
He went on to add that the rejection of any option for extending the presidential term was nonpartisan, as the sentiment was shared among a majority of voters across political parties, according to the survey’s results. A majority of Jokowi’s supporters also shared similar opinions.
Recent talk about delaying the elections or extending the presidential term limit have negatively impacted Jokowi’s approval rating, according to the survey. As many as 64 percent of respondents in the survey said they approved of Jokowi’s performance, a drop from 71.7 percent in the SMRC survey in December.
“We know that the public in general opposes the idea of delaying the election. This opposition has had a negative impact on their sentiment toward the Jokowi administration,” Deni said, adding that the recent discourse on postponing the election had proven to be an “unpopular issue” for the government.
Read also: Push for Jokowi's term extension intensifies
The survey’s result was generally in line with similar public opinion polls. According to a Kompas daily poll held on March, 62 percent of respondents insisted that the upcoming presidential and legislative elections be held as scheduled on Feb. 14, 2024. Only 10 percent of them supported a two- or three-year postponement.
Meanwhile, 67.2 percent of the respondents polled by Indikator Politik Indonesia in December also said that they wanted the presidential election to be held as scheduled. (mrc)
